United States Postal Service Is For Shit

United States Postal Service

If you ever read an article like the link above and feel badly for the state of the United States Postal Service I say don’t.  The US Postal Service has been claiming for a while now that they’re going bankrupt and most of what I’ve read blames it on technology.  Whether that technology is email and text messaging or Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter is beside the point.  I would like to put out there my two cents as to why the US Postal Service is going bankrupt:  They suck.

Take for example the fact that there’s no accountability.  I can’t complain to anyone about the fact that the mail carrier who has my office on his route is completely lazy and an ass.  For example, today both my boss and I were in the front office – she was at her desk and I was at the copier, both locations highly visible from the front door – and he just dumped the mail into our mailbox without trying to open the door.  Unlike a typical residential mailbox, our office mailbox can only be opened by a key.  A key that only one person in the office has.  That person was not in the office at the time our mail was “deposited”.  That is an inconvenience in itself, but we also had mail that needed to be picked up.  Mail that contained bill payments.  Now someone in the office, read me, has to go to the post office to post the mail.  I wasn't planning on going to the post office today because I was just there on Friday checking our PO Boxes.  We’re trying to cut down on mileage and trips – this doesn't help with that as I will now have to make two trips to the post office this week.

Let me give you another scenario:

Around Christmas time my boss got a piece of mail that was about the size and shape of a Christmas Card.  She noticed the side of the envelope had been sliced open.  Upon further investigation she determined that someone – she believes it to be her mail carrier – sliced open her envelope, sliced open two other smaller envelopes within the original envelope and removed a handmade German ornament being sent to her as a thank you for a wedding gift.  The fact that the envelope was not ripped open but sliced open indicates the act was deliberate.  Plus the fact that two smaller envelopes were also sliced open.  Had the envelope been damaged at the sorting facility it would have been placed into a plastic envelope with the USPS “Sorry we damaged your mail” tag ling on it.  This had no such plastic.

My boss went to three different post offices only to eventually be told she needed to call someone at a fourth office.  When she called that fourth office she was transferred to several different people before finally landing with someone who “claimed” to be able to help her.  She spoke with that person two times and now can’t get them to answer her calls anymore.  Either they’re “out sick” or “on vacation” or just plain “busy” and will not take her calls nor will they return messages. 

And her hands are tied.  There’s nothing else she can do.  She’s attempted to contact someone in authority at the postal service, even going so far as to contact some main branch in DC, but because her claim is less than a certain amount (I don’t know what amount the minimum is) they claim that they “can’t help her”.  She’s aware that the gift she had stolen was not expensive, but the fact of the matter is – a government employee stole from her and she can’t do ANYTHING about it.  They’ve gotten away with it.

In my opinion the US Postal Service is going out of business because they’re incompetent.  If I have a letter to send to someone I’ll email them.  If they don’t have email I’ll send it Fed Ex.